It is known to fabricate a component from aluminium (or aluminum) metal by casting. Aluminium components are often preferred over heavier metals in applications such as aerospace and automotive where optimising a strength to weight ratio of the component is desirable.
In order to increase a strength of a component it is known to embed a reinforcement element in the component. Components fabricated from metal matrix composite (MMC) materials such as an aluminium matrix composite (AMC) may be used to form reinforcement elements for embedding in castings.
In some arrangements, reinforcement elements are embedded in an aluminium component by attaching the elements to or otherwise supporting the elements against an interior wall of a mould into which molten aluminium is subsequently poured.
This method of fabrication has the disadvantage that an operator may forget to place a reinforcement element into the mould before casting the molten aluminium into the mould. For example, if the casting requires a number or different reinforcement elements arranged in a complex fashion within the mould cavity, placement of the reinforcement elements may be a non-trivial task. Furthermore, it may be difficult or impossible to determine from an outward appearance of a cast component whether or not a reinforcement element is present within the component.
In arrangements where a reinforcement element is located to the mould tool directly, there may be a witness of the AMC reinforcement evident outside of the casting. Such a witness may be unsightly or affect the functional or corrosion performance of the casting. Removal by subsequent machining may be expensive.
It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to at least partially mitigate the disadvantages of known methods of fabricating cast components.